We realize it’s way too early to celebrate Christmas but these holiday songs have raked in so much that it's like Bowling for Dollars.
Besides the fact that this is Yirong's favorite time of the year, and as we look around in the music industry witness award ceremonies and other music shows and hear of artists who sold millions of records or went Platinum one, two, or three years in a row. Immediately, we think of people like Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Usher, or DMX who broke records with their record sales. But these artists and their songs only scratch the surface when it comes to the number of royalties their songs have earned compared to more legendary songs that we tend to take for granted.
It's quite possible that this Christmas song has been on the soundtrack of almost every Christmas movie made in the 21st Century, from Irving Berlin's White Christmas film in 1954 to Home Alone in 1990. Written by the actor Irving Berlin himself, the song White Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ryZdpEHqM has come to evoke the spirit of Christmas, making it a must-have on your Christmas song playlist. Although it was written and first sung by Berlin, a more popularized version of the song was done by Bing Crosby, who is regarded as the most successful and famous celebrity singer and actor of the 20th century. In addition to selling over 100 million copies worldwide and earning an estimated $36 million in royalties, it was also deemed the best-selling single by the Guinness Book of World Records.
A legitimate carol that gets you hyped for the Christmas season is Haven Gillespie's Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. Released in 1934, it was an instant hit, selling over 400,000 copies within only a few months after its release. Another songwriter who doesn't receive much credit for the song's composition is J. Fred Coots. Undeniably, the song has remained a massive success to this day and has been covered by some of the music industry's most prominent artists, such as Mariah Carey, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsyxFkYZ-aU Bruce Springsteen, and Justin Bieber. The estimated royalties earned for this Christmas classic are around $25 million.
Another slow, soothing, serenading Christmas song that the season of gift-giving can't do without is Mel Torme's version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wap-4v5CZLM, or Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKhRnZZ0cJI. Grossing a total of $19 million in royalties, Torme actually wrote the song when he was just 19 years old in 1944. As the years waned on, various singers and musicians have covered the Christmas classic, such as Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Frank Sinatra, and the 1990s boys band, NSYNC, with lead singer Justin Timberlake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dItJdGbWeyY My daughter Sabrina worked as a marketing guru fie these guys. A huge part of his royalties also came from being featured in movies like Christmas With The Kranks, starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
I actually sang this last one, The Christmas Song at my school assembly many pounds ago, but I assure you that you don't want to hear it after listing all the great groups and singers above.